“Think before you speak. Read before you think.” -Fran Lebowitz

Tag Archives: Social Media/Networking

Who doesn’t love Google? No really? If you don’t i’d love to know why or the specifics. I myself find their services extremely helpful and interesting. I mean what can’t they do? They pretty much have an answer for everything and even coined a phrase; “Google it.” I genuinely hope the best is yet to come and they still got plenty more in store. So here’s to you Goggle and your profitability.

With this in mind, I’ve always been somewhat curious as to how Google was so successful and profitable as I thought of them as simply getting their start as a search engine and expanding accordingly. Upon researching it, the answer was actually quite simple and not at all surprising. They were using a simple and timeless strategy to drive revenue and allow themselves to expand their reach and services.

Below is an infographic all about Google and an in depth look at their profitability and the major source of revenue driving their success. This is simply advertising and the revenues they generate from allowing other companies to market through their websites or services. As is generally the case Goggle has the answer and I think that someone could easily use Googles techniques for success to make themselves or their corporation extremely profitable.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 50 years, there’s a little company known as Google that’s been changing the way the world uses the internet and constantly expanding its services seemingly by the second. Having just recently thrown its hat into the ring of available social media/networking sites. I wanted to take a look at the service Google became known for and what exactly it is that happens when you use Google’s search engine. Even though Google is somewhat secretive about the whole process.

I mean how in the world would someone find this blog when i’m done writing it? How does Google decide what information goes to the top of their searches? What do they consider relevant or reliable search results? There’s so many questions that arise in relation to the way Google works it occurred to me…

What better place to find information on Google than Google!

This video is included in Google’s about section and attempts to relay just exactly what it is that happens when you search something on their site. As is this quote, “Search is how Google began, and it’s still at the heart of what we do today. We devote more engineering time to search than to any other product, because search can always get better and faster at helping you find what you want, when you want it, where you want it.”

But just in case the video straight from Google’s about section wasn’t enough!! Below I’ve included a cool infographic I came across with additional information about how a Google search works! I would love to know how everyone uses Google and its many applications. Thoughts about this colossal search engine and its future. Feel free to share anything relative to this discussion and if your not sure where to start, Google it!

With this year’s “Black Friday” just having come and passed I think it’s safe to say the love for this kind of consumerism is alive and well. I work two jobs in the retail industry and spent eight hours dealing the with hustle and bustle of people clamoring to save a few dollars.

Wondering all the while, is it really worth it? Do the savings justify the irrationality of individual’s actions? How has “Black Friday” changed since its inception into American culture? Pretty much a ton of questions about the people who partake in the festivities, corporations offering the savings, and almost anything relative to this ridiculousness.

Although, not everyone is a fan, with the advent of social media/networking there are individuals who are strongly outspoken against the hysteria this event entails and tracking the places or stuff consumers are purchasing has become easier than ever. Online shopping and other internet consumer-to-consumer corporations like eBay have also reshaped and restructured this yearly “event” in numerous ways for both the better and the worse.

All of this made me curious to find some interesting statistics on” Black Friday,” so here’s a link to a HubSpot blog with this in mind. In addition to these statistics, below is an infographic with some more fascinating information on the strangest day of the year.

I would love to know what anyone else thinks about anything here and “Black Friday” in general. Please feel free to share your comments, questions, or concerns.

So what exactly is it about fantasy sports that makes them increasingly relevant? What are their online marketing or techniques for success? Do you think it’s possible to manipulate their models for your own organization’s or individual success? Are their other successful online strategies I should be researching?

Fantasy sports seemingly offers a unique blend of offline and online application in certain circles. Assuming you do a live draft with friends and regularly discuss the leagues goings-on but also manage your squad on one of the many online fantasy sports services like ESPN or Yahoo. Furthermore, fantasy sports capitalizes on the mobile market as well as the numerous social media/networking avenues and continues to strive to be more user friendly. Fantasy sports services also continue to find ways to expand their services and offer complementary products like insights you can purchase from “fantasy experts” on how to manage your squad.

Below is an interesting infographic with a little information on the economics of fantasy sports and some surprising figures associated with the profitability or spending on fantasy sports and sports sites. Certainly in assessing the approach of other successful online business models like fantasy sports, there are online marketing tactics or online techniques that can be applied to your own organization’s success or personal branding. Don’t be afraid to research and analyze profitable online markets as a means of adapting to the changing modern business climate.

An interesting trend in online information sharing or social/media networking is the increasing relevance of infograhpics. Infographics are a unique way of visualizing data that blends visual devices with informational elements and other such individual style elements.

There is even some evidence that suggest they can be a powerful tool for search engine optimization(SEO) in the social media world. Personally, I find them to be a nifty little device to drive curiosity or conversation about a topic, brand, or whatever given the unusual blend of visual and informational elements. This can be effective in helping people commit the information to memory or wanting to share the “cooler” infographics with others.

Conceptualizing in this way may also give the creator a deeper understanding of the information and develop a distinctive vision of how they want to convey the information.

I mean if a pictures worth a thousand words, whats a picture with loads of words and information worth? Please let me know what you think about infographics. It will be interesting to see how they may develop going forward and their potential uses.

In the interest of attempting to visualize these thoughts, here’s a cool infographic of infographics. Try utilizing them for yourself and find cool or interesting ways to visualize your data!

One of the classes I’m taking this semester at the University of Nevada, Reno is Management 491. A “social business” or rather social media and social networking class. We have had regular guest speakers come in and share their personal stories of success using various aspects of social media/networking.

Most recently a man by the name of Ron Bell, who is a local Reno/Tahoe Realtor who has grown his own business exponentially using social media techniques. His emphasis was on the use of viral videos or YouTube marketing as a means of generating new customers. He even started a group known as the Reno Social Media Group. They are an internet and social media marketing team implementing social media for businesses of all levels. Who uses social media and networking with organic SEO to strive for first page search results and customer interaction.

Please check out some of these interesting facts or statistics you may not have known about YouTube as well! Viral videos and YouTube are continuing to grow at an exponential rate and the amount of time the average user spends watching them is staggering.

Not only can YouTube and viral videos be an essential driving force for your business or organization but you can easily find a unique way to use it to your own advantage or for personal branding as well.

Below is an interesting YouTube video from a website known as Socialnomics about the return on investment from social media for most business. Again there are some extremely interesting stats and figures!

“I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.” Words to live by, or in this case blog by, from the one and only Audrey Hepburn.

After a series of recent events involving the deactivation of this very blog for an issue regarding a questionable link. The sudden realization or meaning behind this blog became more clear to me than ever. As this blog began for personal branding or to create something of an online presence for myself. There must then be some blogs generated and created entirely from the mind of Joshua Tyler Burkhardt. No more or less and no links or videos that involve the thoughts, opinions, and concerns of others. This may be somewhat selfish but blogging already seems somewhat self indulgent.

So with this in mind, I promise to hereby occasional create posts that are free of any content other than my own. I believe this will add a new level of personality to the blog and give the readers a better sense of who I am. However, I am open to suggestions or questions and am willing to give my own insights on a variety of fields of interest if called upon.

For example, I’ll share with you something interesting I’ve come across and sure it’s not a for leaf clover but I hope it brings you some luck…

(P.S. I do realize there is a bit of irony in opening a blog of this nature with a quote from someone else.)